Three things we learned from Red Sox' 5-3 loss to Braves

Three things we learned from Red Sox' 5-3 loss to Braves

1) Clay Buchholz beat himself

The Braves, you may have noticed, aren't very good offensively. They rank last or near last in the N.L. in most offensive categories and came in with an eight-game losing streak, during which they failed to score more than four runs.

So what happened with Buchholz Thursday night? He gave up five runs in 6 1/3 innings, and worse, he let the lower third of an otherwise weak lineup do a lot of the damage.

Three times, he walked No. 7 hitter Jace Peterson, who came into the game hitting just .205 and who had walked only twice in 41 previous plate appearances.

"No disrespect to (Jace) Peterson,'' said John Farrell, trying to be diplomatic, "but you're wanting to force contact. He hasn't hit for a high average.''

Peterson twice drew leadoff walks.

Worse, the bottom third of the order was 3-for-7 with three walks and five runs scored.

Once more: the last three hitters in a weak lineup accounted for all but one run scored, because Buchholz couldn't retire a trio that came into the game hitting .205 (Peterson), .147 (Erick Aybar) and Mallex Smith (.136).

If all the damage had been done by, say, Nick Markakis or Freddie Freeman -- established major leaguers, and pretty good ones -- that would be one thing.

But Buchholz allowed himself to get beat by the three worst hitters in the Atlanta batting order, and worse still, two of the rallies were begun with walks.

2) Hanley Ramirez may have turned the corner

Farrell spent some of his pre-game media session talking about how Ramirez had been guilty of expanding the strike zone by swinging at pitches he shouldn't be swinging at. Farrell noted that Ramirez was aware of the issue and was working to address it with hitting instructors Chili Davis and Victor Ramirez.

Evidently, something stuck because Ramirez was 3-for-4 with two RBI, spraying the ball all over Fenway -- a single to right, a double to left and a single to center.

"That's huge,'' said Xander Bogaerts of Ramirez's big night.

Ramirez has been knocking in runs, having picked up an RBI in five of his previous six games. But that's been a function of opportunity, because Dustin Pedroia, Travis Shaw -- who hit cleanup one night in Atlanta in front of Ramirez -- and Bogaerts have all been on hot streaks.

Ramirez hasn't been driving the ball with authority. He came into the night with a lowely .373 slugging percentage.

To his credit, Ramirez has worked to become a suitable first baseman and has run hard on the bases, while dedicating himself to being a better teammate. All of that has been evident.

But the Red Sox expected -- and need -- more from their No. 5 hitter. Perhaps that began to take place Thursday night.

3) David Ortiz can still appear overmatched against some matchup lefties

Ortiz is off to an otherwise fine start, with 16 RBI in his first 20 games and OPS for the season of .975. Not bad a 40-year-old.

But some lefties out of the bullpen still present tough matchups for Ortiz. We know how much he's struggled against Baltimore's Brian Matusz and Toronto's Brett Cecil.

On Thursday night, Ortiz represented the tying run in the seventh inning, with two on and the Sox trailing 5-2. Fredi Gonzalez went to Hunter Cervenka, a journeyman southpaw, who came in and tied up Ortiz on a couple of poor swings, then got him to roll over to the second baseman, ending the Red Sox' threat.

It's something to pay attention to the rest of the way, as opposing managers look to matchup lefties with Ortiz in the late innings and the game on the line.